Week 13 - Storytelling - Rambo and the Raiders

“I think this one will work” Rambo said, putting the last wheel back on the wagon.

“I hope so” replied Laksho.

It looked old as if it had been abandoned for a couple years. The wood structure looked slightly rotted in some places but was still solid. With some minor repairs to the wheels they got it back to working order. Rambo, Sinthia, and Laksho had been traveling for days with only one horse. They were trying to avoid the raiders that roamed this region of the mountains and traveling at foot speed didn’t provide them with any advantage. They were lucky to find an abandoned wagon that was actually still working. The irony in the situation is that the wagon had probably been left behind by some travelers or merchants who had been captured or killed by the same raiders. It didn’t matter though; they hooked up their horse and got on their way.

Busted wagon wheel
source

It didn’t take long for them to realize that they had in fact been spotted by a raider scout at the last pass. They were traveling for some half a day before they heard the raiders slowly catching up behind them. Their draft horse moved quite well along this rough terrain but the raiders were all on their own Quarter Horses.

“Looks like trouble,” Laksho said, seeing their followers for the first time. “It’s definitely raiders.”

You could always tell the raiders because they usually wore colored bands around their waist to help them differentiate themselves in the heat of combat. Their bright red bands stood out against the green and grey surroundings. Rambo whipped the reins and the horse picked up the pace. Laksho watched as the first raider slowly approached the wagon at full speed. He attempted to jump onto the wagon but simply misjudged the jump. His leading foot missed the wagon completely which caused him to fall forward and hit his head on the wagon. Laksho chuckled at this but Sinthia was not amused. In his desperate attempt to grab on to something, the raider somehow threw his satchel which landed in the bed of the wagon.

The situation began to escalate, however. More raiders were approaching quickly. The next raider actually made in onto the wagon. Laksho reacted quickly and pushed him off the wagon before he could get his balance. The raider pulled him along with him though and he did everything he could to grab onto the wagon and hang on. Sinthia helped pull him up and back into the wagon. Laksho wiped the sweat off his brow.

“Okay, enough of this,” Rambo said. “Laksho, take the reins.”

Laksho jumped into the front seat next to Rambo and grabbed the reins. Rambo then jumped into the bed of the wagon and found his .44 Magnum lever-action rifle. He aimed it at the next raider who barely had a chance to realize what was happening. Rambo fired the first shot with great effect, knocking the raider off of his horse completely. He repeated this; two more shots and two more dead raiders. There almost seemed like an endless supply of raiders, though, and Rambo only had three more bullets. All the while, Sinthia had found the raiderss bag in the wagon and found a stick of dynamite inside along with a flint.

“Rambo, look here,” she said, holding up the dynamite.

Rambo smiled and nodded. “Perfect!”

Laksho chuckled and whipped the reins. “It’s narrow up ahead. Get that thing ready,” he yelled.

Sinthia struggled to light the fuse but succeeded in lighting it just in time. She handed the lit dynamite to Rambo who threw it out just as the road narrowed along a cliff. This was the perfect moment to use the dynamite. They kept moving at full speed and waited. Rambo began to think that it was a dud but his thought was interrupted by one of the loudest sounds he had ever heard. The dynamite knocked enough rock loose to block the road and even hit one or two raiders. The road was clear and they carried on.

Author: Shamik Dasgupta
Artist: Jeevan Kang
Title: Ramayan 3392 AD Vol. 2: Reloaded / Tome of the Wastelands
Year: 2008

Author’s Note

This is yet another story that I decided to retell in the Western style. This original story comes from the Ramayan 3392 AD: Reloaded. It was an interesting read and I thought that this would be fun to turn into a Western. I left the plot pretty much the same, which is what I usually do. The names obviously are changed to be more Western. The background to this is nothing special. I pretty much wanted to stick to telling these stories in a Western setting for my Storybook Portfolio. The image here, as with many of the images I have used for these Western style stories, was chosen in large part because there weren’t many pictures that would suit the nature of this story while still being labeled for re-use. Still, the images works just fine with the story pretty much all taking place while traveling on a wagon. This story was actually somewhat difficult to get started in terms of creativity. This graphic novel was a very fun and interesting read but I had trouble finding a story that was, in my eyes, suitable to be changed into an action packed Western-style story. Overall, it turned out pretty good and I enjoyed writing this very much.